I-45’s new, longer flyover is creeping steadily west toward 59 north following about 7 months of work to get there. The farther-away photo above looks south from the corner of Hutchins and Jefferson streets to show where the partly built roadway currently drops off, about 2 blocks east of its planned merge with 59.
The existing ramp toward 59 north — which diverges from the Gulf Fwy. just east of Emancipation — shut down last December 1. Its soon-to-be-built successor branches off from 45 a few blocks further east, giving drivers more time to swerve onto it than they had previously:
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Zooming past the Emancipation exit:
The new ramp is a hint of the many more changes planned for East Downtown, including the complete rerouting of 45 — depicted below in a TxDOT rendering — such that it runs through the neighborhood:
Photos: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool. Map: TxDOT
I thought that this was a distinct, separate project to reconfigure exits for downtown and I-69/59 from I-45 to reduce congestion?
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They’ve moved the I-69/59 exits for both north and south to a dedicated, elevated lane from an earlier conventional right exit, and they’re reconfiguring the St. Joseph Parkway exit to downtown as a more direct surface-level exit.
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I can only assume that these ramps will be worked into the eventual reroute when/if that occurs, although that may be giving TXDoT too much credit.
@Donald, you are correct. It is a separate project with separate funding, but designed to be consistent with the big reroute project.
It should give everyone pause though because the height of that connector is what you are going to see on both sides of the underground portion when the re-route is built. Whatever “barrier” the Pierce elevated was between downtown and midtown (which I don’t think is nearly as much of a barrier as the location of the bus station), the height and span of these connectors will dwarf that. You never see good development in the shadow spaghetti bowl ramps.
Thanks TXDOT for continually ruining inner city neighborhoods.
this is a good project. it will do 2 things. it will spread out congestion, so hopefully there will be fewer accidents in the area. Seems like every weekend there was an accident.
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it also highlights just how bad the re alignment project will be with those huge ramps.
@ EldoradoEd
So you’re saying the area immediately around the 45 / 59 interchange was a desirable location before TxDOT built this?
Can you ruin something that is already spoiled?
Can some tunnels go through the GRB to connect the east side to downtown?
Never ceases to amaze how willing this state is to build highways.
Even before I moved to TX I heard that roads bonds ALWAYS pass in this state…
because we have places to go and barb’ wire to mend!